MATH ANXIETY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF GRADE 11

STUDENTS AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Mathematics anxiety is a disabling conditions when students struggle with

mathematics. This condition is a specific and real fear of mathematics that causes

students to have obsessive urge to avoid mathematics completely. (Hembree 1990)

As we know, mathematics is one of the core subjects of the senior high school

curriculum because it helps students in their everyday living and it involves counting,

numeracy and others

Nowadays, the declining performance in mathematics of student in Senior High

School gained increasing attention. In educational setting, Math ranks very close to the

lowest among the eight subjects in senior high school curriculum.

The mathematics student can seriously hamper her or his performance by using

nervous and insecure towards mathematics. Many students who suffer from math anxiety

have little confidence in their ability to do mathematics and tend to skip or avoid the

subject. (Ashcraft 2001)

Math anxiety has most often been explained according to in ability to perform

math calculations, such as an ability by otherwise intelligent person to cope with

quantification, and more generally, mathematics. Perry (2004)

Academic Performance is the result of one student towards his/her subjects and it

can be measured by the final grade earned in the course.

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The academic performance is defined by students' reporting of past semester

CGPA/GPA (grade point average) and their expected GPA for the current semester. The

GPA is now used by most of the tertiary institutions as a convenient summary measure of

the academic performance of their students. The GPA is a better measurement because it

provides a greater insight into the relative level of performance of individuals and

different group of students. Hill,et al (2016)

Thus, this study will find the relationship of Math anxiety and the Academic

Performance of the students who has a math subjects.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to determine the relationship between math anxiety and academic

performance of Grade 11 students in their 1st semester at Trece Martires City Senior

High School, School Year 2018-2019

Specifically, it will answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the students in terms of their sex?

2. What is the level of math anxiety of the students?

3. Is there a significant relationship between math anxiety and sex?

4. What is the academic performance of the students?

5. Is there a significant relationship between math anxiety and academic

performance?
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Hypothesis of the Study

There is significant relationship between math anxiety and academic performance.

Conceptual Framework

Level of Math Anxiety Academic Performance

Figure 1. A table showing the relationship between variables.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study focuses on the level of math anxiety and its relationship to students’

academic performance. The respondents of this study are the students of Trece Martires

City Senior High School for school year 2018-2019. All students of Grade 11 are the

respondents excluding the GAS and TVL Strand.

The Study involved the following strand in Trece Martires Senior High School; ,

Humanities and Social Science, Science Technology and Engineering, Accounting and

Business Management. They served as the research locale of this study.

The researchers did not include the GAS and TVL students in this study because

they have the least subject Mathematics. Having one mathematics subject cannot trigger

their math anxiety. In addition, mostly of GAS and TVL students doesn’t mind their

performance or grade in mathematics.

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Significance of the Study

The result of this study is very significant to the following:

Students. For the students to be aware that they posses this condition and for

them to find ways to change their minds about

Teachers. for the teacher's to help their students by changing the way they teach

the way students follow and understand.

Parents. for parents to be aware that their children developed this condition and

that they can help their child to prevent or cure anxiety.

Administration. this study will benefit the administration for having a basis for

the future implementations or guidelines of programs that will help the situation of

student of having math anxiety.

Future Researchers. the next researchers may gain more information about math

anxiety and academic performance. The next generation researchers as a novice may take

advantage in this study in future reference. For example, the researchers may need

information about the discussed topic; the researchers may apply this knowledge

gathered.

Definition of Terms

Academic performance. It refers to the extent to which a student, teachers, or

institution has achieve their short or long term educational goals (www.google.com). In

this study, it refers to the students overall grade in mathematics subject. The grade will be

group as follows.
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Grade Interpretation

93-100 Very Good

87-92 Good

81-86 Average

75-80 Satisfactory

74 and below Failed

Math Anxiety. It refers to the one’s ability to do mathematics. It is a phenomenon

that is often considered when examining student’s problems in mathematics

(www.google.com). In this study, it refers to the condition of the students who are afraid

towards the math subject.

Score Interpretation

42-50 Very High Anxiety

32-41 High Anxiety

23-31 Moderate Anxiety

14-22 Low Anxiety

5-13 Very Low Anxiety

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Sex. It refers to either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many

species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male specially on the basis of

their reproductive organs and structures (Merriam-Webster). In this study it refers to

either male or female are more prone to math anxiety.

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REVIEW AND RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize and analyze existing literature and

studies related to math anxiety and academic performance including the variables age and

sex.

Profile of the Respondents in terms of Sex

In the study of Yeo et al. (2015); Baluglo (2010) and Ayatollah (2009) all used

greater numer of male respondents than male respondents in their researches while

PrimaVitasari et al. (2010) and Yee (2004) utilized more female than male in their

studies.

Mathematics Anxiety

In the study of Yeo et al. (2015), he utilized the level of Math anxiety: low

anxiety, average anxiety, and high anxiety. Results showed that both of genders were

having average anxiety level. Among low, average and high anxiety level, frequency of

males were found to be higher as compared to females.

Meanwhile, Mehdizadeh et al. (2013); Usop (2012); Zakaria (2012); Smith

(2004); Bidin et al. (2003) all found similar results. Zakaria (2012) The results showed

that secondary school students’ mathematics anxiety level in Selangor, Malaysia is at a

moderate level. Although the students are not in their national examination year, their

teacher always gives a monthly test. This finding supports a study conducted by Smith

(2004), which found that students experience anxiety when they know that a test or task

is coming. A test is an inevitable uncertainty and causes students to worry. This study

was also supported by Bidin et al. (2003), who conducted a survey among Form three
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students in Perlis, Malaysia and found that the students’ overall anxiety level was

moderate. In addition, Mehdizadeh et al. (2013) utilized the anxiety level of the students

in which MARS (Math Anxiety Rating Scale) was used to determine undergraduates’

anxiety level towards mathematics. Students were required to rate their levels of anxiety

on the tasks in which the dimensions used in the MARS (Math Anxiety Rating Scale) are

“not at all”, “a little”, “a fair amount”, “much”, or “very much” The results revealed that

students had moderate level of anxiety.

Mathematics Anxiety and Sex

Several studies have been conducted to investigate the level of mathematics

anxiety among male and female students. In the study of Adamu, (2014), he utilized the

level of math anxiety: very high anxiety, high anxiety, moderately anxiety, low anxiety

and very low anxiety. Findings revealed that the higher the score students were obtained,

the higher the anxiety level students were having. In the opposite, the lower the scores

students were obtained; students were having low anxiety level. Some researchers have

argued that females have higher mathematics anxiety than males (Woodard, 2004;

Yuksel-Sahin, 2008; Karimi and Venkatesan, 2009; Khatoon and Mahmood, 2010). In

addition, female students are often labeled as shy and this characteristic can harm their

ability to learn. Male students were found to be more active in a wider range of social

activities than female students (Khatoon and Mahmood, 2010) were. Yuksel-Sahin

(2008) study on secondary school students in Turkey reported that the stereotypical view

of this issue has a powerful impact. Female students believed boys were blessed with the

advantage of mastering mathematics, while the boys felt they were better able to perform
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in mathematics when compared with their female counterparts. Such beliefs negatively

affect the ability of female students and their initial assumptions about mathematics

achievement can have a long-term impact on their math achievement.

However, findings in this study contradicted to Khatoon & Mahmood (2010) and

Yuksel-Sahin (2008) study which showed that there was significant difference between

mathematics anxiety and gender where females were having higher mathematics anxiety

level compared to males. Males were more involved in those leisure activities, which can

help them to reduce anxiety level as compared to females; Stereotypical view was having

great impact on mathematics anxiety. Females think that males were able to perform

better in mathematics whereas male students have the thinking that they were able to

have higher achievement as compared to females. Thus, their thinking will cause females

to have higher anxiety compared to males, Yuksel-Sahin, (2008) findings showed that

most of the gender that was having mathematics anxiety level was males rather than

females.

Academic Performance

The learning of mathematics is affected by the confidence of learners in their

mathematical abilities and the attitudes, beliefs and feelings they harbor towards

mathematics (Coben, 2003). It is generically accepted that teachers impact learners in

many ways. Levine (2008) found that teachers with mathematics anxiety emphasize rule-

based strategies and treat mathematics as an arbitrary collection of facts, perhaps to

promote an illusion of their expertise and disciplinary power to students. Furthermore,

there is often limited classroom interaction, resulting in students questions not being
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asked or answered, and knowledge presented as limited and confusing. Frequently, these

teaching strategies perpetrate and perpetuate mathematics anxiety learners. Mathematics

anxiety has been found to relate to mathematics performance of learners (Zakaira &

Nordin, 2008; karimi & Venkatesan,2009). Mathematics anxiety has been found to

decrease the efficiency of an individual’s working memory because intrusive thoughts

and worries take the focus away from the mathematics tasks at hand. This makes it

difficult for individuals to think logically and results in increased errors and longer

processing times when solving problems mentally. In the long –term, mathematics

anxiety leads to decreased competence, reduced competition rates and lower and lower

academic performance in the subject found that learners with higher levels of

mathematics anxiety tend to have lower of performance in mathematics, suggesting the

existence of a negative correlation between mathematics anxiety and performance.

Mathematics anxiety can influence students’ mathematical performance physically by

affecting memory and creating nervousness and an inability to concentrate found people

developing coping strategies for everyday life, and Brady and Bowd (2005) describe

people avoiding mathematics where possible.

Other study by Tapia (2004), Zakaria, and Nordin (2008) reported that learners

having little or no mathematics anxiety scored significantly higher in motivation than

learners with some or higher anxiety. One of the factors attributable to mathematics

anxiety is a lack of confidence, which often leads to decreased motivation. Cited from

Julgin Senajonon
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Math Anxiety and Academic Performance

In the study of Leppavirta (2013); Devine (2012) Venkatesan (2009); Ayatollah

(2009); in the study of Venkatesan (2009) he analyzed the relationship between

mathematics anxiety and academic performance of the students. The results of the study

have revealed the significant relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics

performance. It means that students who have high mathematics anxiety tended to

perform fewer score in mathematics performance. Similar results were also obtained by

Devine (2012) she determine the gender differences in mathematics anxiety. Number of

secondary students included in the study was 433, which consisted of 165 females and

268 males. Type of instrument used in the study was Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety

Scale. Findings of the study showed that there were relationship between mathematics

anxiety and mathematics performance. Opined that females can have better mathematics

performance than males. This was supported by Ayatollah (2009) regarding the

Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematics Performance and Academic Hardiness in High

School Students. The results of the study have revealed significant relationship between

mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance. It means that students who have high

mathematics anxiety tended to perform fewer score in mathematics performance.

However, those who have low mathematics anxiety tended to perform high score in

mathematics.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the procedure that will be used in this study. It described the

research design, the respondents of the study, the research instrument, the data gathering

procedure and the statistical tools that will be employed in the analysis of data in

determining the relation of math anxiety and academic performance including the

variable sex.

Research Design

The descriptive correlational method will be used in order to describe the samples

under investigation, and to determine the relationship and differences between the

variables of the study.

The descriptive design is appropriate for describing the level of math anxiety,

academic performance and the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of their

sex. The correlation design will used to determine the significant relationship and the

significant differences between sex and math anxiety.

The predictor variable is the math anxiety. The criterion variable is academic

performance while the moderating variable is the respondent sex.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study will be the 207 senior high school students selected

from the total population of 431 students in the different strand in Trece Martires Senior

High School during the school year 2018-2019.

To arrive at the sample size, the researchers used the Slovin’s formula. The

computation resulted in a sample size of 207 students. After determining the sample size,
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the researchers used the stratified proportionate sampling procedure to distribute the

sample size to the different strand and finally chose the respondents systematically.

Stratified proportionate sampling was used to ensure that different groups of the

population were adequately represented in the sample.

The researchers listed the different strand in senior high school in Trece Martires

Senior High School. The distribution of the proportionate sample is shown in

Table 1. Respondent of the study

Respondents Population Sample Percentage

ABM` 111 53 53%

STEM 130 63 30%

HUMSS 190 91 44%

TOTAL 431 207 100%

Research Instrument

In order to collect data and provide answer to the research hypothesis, Student’s

Profile Questionnaire and Math Anxiety Questionnaire will be used by the researchers in

gathering data.

In the Student’s Profile Questionnaire, the researchers included three parts for

measuring variables that are related to the respondents. These are name (optional), strand

and sex.
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In the Math Anxiety Questionnaire, originally develop by Ellen Freedman 1997-

2006. This instrument will be adopted and modified in this study. It consists of 10

questions pertaining to student math anxiety.

Data Gathering

The researchers will request permission from the principal and teachers as an

agreement for our data gathering to gather the data of student math anxiety.

Upon their approval, the researchers will start gathering data. For gather data for

the profile of the respondents, the researcher will administer the student math anxiety

questionnaire.

The researchers will administer the math Anxiety Questionnaire to the student of

the selected strands.

The respondents will be motivated to answer the questionnaire honestly and

accurately after the survey, the data will processed analyzed an interpreted using the

appropriate statistical tools.

Data Analysis

For data analysis, the following statistical tools will be used. Mean, Frequency

and Percentage, t-test, Person Product Moment Correlation Coefficient.

The Significance of the differences and relationship will be tested at 0.05 levels.

Mean - This tool employed to determine the level of math anxiety and level of

academic performance.

Frequency and Percentage – These will be used to describe the profile of the

students particularly their sex.

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T -test - This statistical tool will utilize to find out the significant difference in

math anxiety and sex.

Person Product – Moment correlation Coefficient - This tool will be used to

determine the significant relationship between math anxiety and academic performance.
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RESULT AND DISCUSION

This chapter discusses the presentation and analysis of data based on the investigation
carried out on the math anxiety and academic performance of grade 11 students in Trece
\Martires Senior High School.

The results are presented according to the research question raised earlier as showing the

table below:

Table 2. Distribution of respondents according to sex.

Sex Frequency Percentage

Male 81 39
Female 126 61
Total 207 100

Level of Math Anxiety of the students. It can be observed in Table 3 that 90 (43.48%)

students had a “Moderate Anxiety” in mathematics while 62 (29.95%) students had a

“High Anxiety” and 39 (18.84%) students had a “Low Anxiety”. Whereas, only 12

(5.80%) students had a “Very High Anxiety” and 4 (1.93) students had a “Very Low

Anxiety” in mathematics. That implies that the math anxiety of students is “Moderate

Anxiety” with the computed mean of 29.06.

Table 3. Level of Math Anxiety of the Students.

Level of Math Anxiety Frequency Percentage

Very High Anxiety 12 5.80
High Anxiety 62 29.95
Moderate Anxiety 90 43.48
Low Anxiety 39 18.84
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Very Low Anxiety 4 1.93

Total 207 100
Range: 11-48
Mean: 29.06
Standard deviation: 7.51
Interpretation: Moderate Anxiety
Legend:
42-50 Very High Anxiety
32-41 High Anxiety
23-31 Moderate Anxiety
14-22 Low Anxiety
5-13 Very Low Anxiety

Level of Academic Performance of the students. It can be observed in Table 4 that 99

(47.82%) students had an “Average” academic performance while 48 (23.19%) students
had a “Good” performance and 45 (21.74%) students had a “Satisfactory”. Whereas, only
12 (5.80%) students had a “Very Good” performance and 3 (1.45%) students had a
“Failed” in academic performance. That implies that the Level of Academic Performance
of students is “Average” with the computed mean of 85.02.

Table 4. Level of Academic Performance of the Students.

Level of Math Anxiety Frequency Percentage

Very Good 12 5.8
Good 48 23.19
Average 99 47.82
Satisfactory 45 21.74
Failed 3 1.45
Total 207 100
Range: 74-97
Mean: 85.02
Standard deviation: 7.06
Interpretation: Average
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Legend:
93-100 Very Good
87-92 Good
81-86 Average
75-80 Satisfactory
74 and below Failed

Table 5. Relationship of Math Anxiety and Academic Performance

Mean Standard P-
Deviation Coefficient Value
Math Anxiety 29.06 7.51 -0.550 0.000 Significant
Academic Performance 85.02 4.06
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